The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-03-02

this morning a vast throng rose to sing tie
opening doxology:
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
After a brief exposition Of Scripture by the
pastor, the Rev T. De Witt Talmage, d. D.,
and the singing Of a hymn, Professor Henry
Eyre Browne rendered an organ solo, Sonata
No. ], in ID minor, by Guilmant The subject
Of DIR. Talmage's sermon was "The Swelling
of Jordan and his text Jer XII, 5: aIf thou
hast run with the footmen, and they havs
wearied thee, then how canst thou contend
with horsesf And If in the land Of peace
wherein thou trlstedst, they wearied thee
then how wilt thou do in the swelling oil
Jordan" The eloquent preacher said:
Not in petulant but in kindly terms
must complain that wrong has been done
me and the cause Of honest journalism, by Q
pretended sermon that Is going the rounds OF
hundreds Of papers with my name appended
a sermon entitled Frauds Detected" text
Numbers xxi, %: But il We will not dc
so, behold, We have sinned against the Lord,
and be sure your sin viii find you out" Not
one sentenco Of that pretended sermon did
preach. II this were the only offense of the
kind / would not speak Of it. Such fraud
is not ouly wrong TO me but TO the gentle
men who. at these tables, Sabbath by Sab
bath take accurate report OF what is said and
done; aud ita gross wrong to the 1000 news
papers which give every week my sermon in
full 10 their readers, and often at great ex-
pense to themselves The only fault have
70 find with the newspaper press Of this
country is, that they treat me too well. Bat
/ cannot be made responsible for entire ser
mons, not one word of which did 1 preach.
But now turn from personal explanation to
the more important subject OF the text.
sal III III
troubles God savs to him: "Gf you cannot
stand these small trials aud prosecutions,
what are you going TO do when the greater
trials and prosecutions Gomez If you have
been running race with footmen and they
have beaten you, what chance is there that
you will outrun horsesf" And then the figure
is changed You know, in April and May,
the Jordan overflows its banks and the waters
rush violently on, sweeping everything be-
fore them. And God says to the prophet:
at You are overcome with smaller trials and
vexatious which have assaulted you, what
win you do when the trials and annoyance
and prosecutions Of life come in a freshet'
If in the land Of peace wherein thou trusted
they wearicd thee, then how wilt thou do in
the swelling Of Jordanl
/ propose, if God will help me. in very
practical way TO ask--if il is such a difficult
thing TO get along without the religion of
Jesus Christ when things are comparatively
smooth, what viii we do without Christ amid
the overpouring misfortunes and disasters of
life that may come upon usl If troubles,
slow as footmen, surpass us. what will we do
when they take the feet of horsesl and if now
in our lifetime VIC are beaten back and sub
merged of sorrows because we have not the
religion of Jesus TO comfort us, what viii we
do when we stand in death, and we feel all
around.about us "the swelling of Jordanf The
fact that you have come here, my brother,
my sister, shows that you have some
things you believe in common with
myself You believe that there is a God
There is not an atheist in all this house do
not believe there ever was n real atheist in
all the world. Napoleon was on a ships deck
bound for Egypt. 1t was a bright, starry
night, and as he paced the deck, thinking of
the great affairs of the state and of battle, he
heard two men on the deck in conversation
about God, one saying there was n God and
the other saying there was none. Napoleon
stopped and looked up at the starry heavens
and then he turned to these men in converse
ton and said: Gentlemen, | heard one of you
say there is no God If there is no God, will
you please to tell me who made all thatg7
Aye, if you had not been persuaded of it be-
FORE you are persuaded of it now; for the
shining heavens declare the glory of God and
the earth shows his handiwork But you be-
lieve more than that; you believe that there
was a Jesus; you believe that there was
cross; you believe that you have an immor-
tai soul; you believe that it must be regener-
ated by the spirit of God, or you can never
dwell in bliss eternal. think great many
of You will say that you believe it is impor-
\
every day of our life, to smooth our
tempers and purify our minds, and hold
us impertubable amid all the annoy
ance and vexations of life. You and I
have seen so many men trampled down by
misfortunes because they had no faith in
Jesus, and you say to yourself: "If they were
so easily overcome by the trials of life, what
will it be when greater misfortunes come
upon them--heart breaking calamities,
tremendous griefsln Oh, if we have no God
TO comfort us when our fortune goes, and we
look upon the grave of our children, and our
houses are desolate, what will become of us?.
What a sad thing it is to see men all
unhelped of God, going out to fight
giants of trouble; no closet of prayer
in which to retreat, no promise of mercy to
soothe the soul, no rock of refuge in which
to hide from the blast. Oh, when the swift
coursers of trouble are brought up, champing
and painting for the race, and the reins are
thrown upon their necks and the lathered
tanks at every spring feel the stroke of the
lash, what can we do on foot with theml
How can we compete with theml If, having
run with the footmen, they wearied us, how
can we contend with horsesl
We have all yielded to temptation. We
have been surprised afterward that so small an
Z. i
right. How insignificant temptation has
sometimes captured our soul And il that is
so, my dear brother, what will it be when we
come 10 stand in the presence of temptation
that Frustrated a David, and Moses, and a
Peter, and some of the mightiest men in all
Gods kingdoml Now we are honest; but
suppose we were placed in some path of life,
as many of Gods children have been, where
all the forces of earth and he'll combine TO
capture the souli Without Jesus we would
go down under it. If already we have
been beaten by insignificant footmen, we
would be distanced 10000 leagues by the
horses. All, don't like to hear a man say:
Il could not commit such sin as that. /
can't understand how n man could be carried
away like that You don't know what you
could do il the grace of God lets you. You
know what John Bunyan said when he saw q
man staggering along the street, thoroughly
embruted in his habits. He said: There
goes John Bunyan, but for the grace of God"
l can say when | see one utterly fallen:
"There goes Dewitt Talmage, but for the
grace of Godr' If we have been delivered
from temptation it is because the strong
arm of the Lord Almighty has been about
US, and not because we were any better than
they 1t is great folly to borrow trouble
II we can meet the misfortunes of to day, we
will be able TO meet the troubles Of to-mor-
row; but suppose now, if through a lack Of
the religion of Jesus, we are overthrow by
small sorrows, does not our common sense
teach us that we cannot stand up against
great onesl If we cannot carry pound,
can we carry 1000 poundsl Ii we are
discounted coming into battle with one regi-
ment, brigade will cut us to pieces. If we
are unfit to cope with one small trial, won't
we be overcome by greater onesi If the foot
men are too much for us, won't the odds be
more fearful against us when we contend
with horsess | thank God that some of His
dear children have been delivered. How was
1t that Paul could say: ''Sorrowful yet al
ways rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich;
having nothing, yet possessing all thingsr
And David, the psalmist, scars up into the
rock OF Gods strength and becomes thorough
ly composed amid all his sorrows, saying:
God is our refuge and strength, a very pres
ent help in the time of trouble; therefore viii
not we fear though the earth be removed.
though the mountains be cast into the midst
OF the sea, though the waters thereof roar
and be troubled, though the mountain shake
with the swelling thereof. Selahn
But my text suggests something in advance
OF anything have said. We must all quit
this life However sound our health may be,
It must break down; however good our title
may be to houses, land and estates. we m,,,sf
surrender them. We will hear a voice bid.
ding US away from all these places. We win
have to start ON a pilgrimage from which we
can never come back. We will have
seen for the last time the evening
star and Watched 4bo L.. -......---